


Burn Everything (the Heat Lifts You Faster)

by badgerling



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 08:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5490704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badgerling/pseuds/badgerling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Bruce Banner wanted was peace and quiet and space to work on a cure. Tony and Natasha have other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burn Everything (the Heat Lifts You Faster)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tumblr user [dairxoxo](http://dairxoxo.tumblr.com/)

The last thing Bruce expected to see that morning when he opened his eyes was a tiny, gaudy Christmas tree on his nightstand. It was the kind anyone can buy at a convenience store, one that came with the lights included, all garish and bright, in silver, gold, and green, and it was definitely not something that Bruce would have bought on his own. Buying it would have involved going into town, actually talking to people, possibly running into people who knew him.

The Hulk had to have been all over the news lately, and it was common knowledge that the Hulk was actually Bruce Banner, and he knew that he really should have gone further away, further north, all the way to the pole, all the way where the only thing that he might hurt were some polar bears and maybe a killer whale or two.

Instead, he had settled in a run down shack on the edge of a small town in the furthest point in Canada he could have gone. He'd even used the very last bit of cash he had on him to rent the place instead of just squatting in it.

He knew that everyone would be looking for him where he had ditched the quinjet, somewhere tropical and warm, but the weather never mattered to the Hulk, and neither did walking long distances under water, over deserts, across mountains, until, finally, neither one of them could go any further.

Bruce made a soft sound in his throat as he pressed his hands against the mattress and pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed. The bed he didn't remember coming back to. He'd lost track of time again. That tended to happen the longer he was the Hulk, but it was easier sometimes. The big guy didn't need to eat or drink, he could just exist. It was, at least, cheaper than buying groceries.

But he was human, _normal_ , again, and as if on cue, his stomach rumbled, and he smelled something burning. Food burning. Bruce struggled out from under the thin blanket he was covered with, but as he turned to grab clothes to put on, he stopped suddenly.

Because more surprising than than the Christmas tree, more surprising than the burning food, was the sight of Natasha Romanoff sitting in the chair next to the bed. Asleep. Maybe. Or just pretending. Her breathing was even, and the noise Bruce had made getting out of the bed had obviously not disturbed her, and for a long moment, Bruce just smiled a little at the sight of her. She was facing both the window and the door, and the early morning sunlight hit her just right that her hair seemed to glow, and he was just...struck. Completely struck.

"Beautiful," he said, keeping his voice soft even in his admiration. Natasha stirred, even though she still didn't seem to wake up, and Bruce took the blanket off the bed, draping it over her and tucking her into the chair. Just before the smell of burning food made Bruce worry that the house was going to burn down.

He grabbed pants and a sweater off the floor, pulling them on as he headed down the short hallway to the kitchen. Which was empty except for the skillet on the stove that was starting to smoke. Bruce growled softly, but he took a deep breath, clamping his teeth down against the annoyance bubbling inside him. He stepped into the kitchen, turning off the stove before he turned to look into the living area.

When he had arrived, he had dug an old white board out of the trash behind the high school. They weren't using it anymore, and Bruce always felt better when writing his ideas down. Before too long at the shack, he had covered the entire board in equations, ones tested and retested and fixed and tested again.

And now Tony Stark was standing at the board. Changing numbers. Changing entire equations.

"What are you doing?" That was the first question that actually came to Bruce. Not 'how did you find me?' or even 'why did you bring her here, she deserves better?'. Bruce just mainly wanted to know what Stark was messing everything up.

"Your math was wrong," Tony said, but his voice was distracted as he changed another equation. Then another. Then a third. Until finally Bruce had to step up behind Tony and take the dry erase marker out of his hand.

"There was nothing wrong with the math. Not until you messed it up." Bruce shouldered past Tony, looking closely at the equations. It took a second for im to figure out just what Tony had been changing.

"No. It was wrong. Because it looked like you were trying to come up with an equation to fix your, uh, well, you," Tony said with a shrug, taking the black marker back out of Bruce's hand. "Which is the part that was wrong," Tony punctuated that sentence by jabbing the marker toward Bruce's chest. "So I fixed it. Made your equations...." He gestured vaguely at the board with his hands. "Better."

"Better?"

"Better."

"Stark. Are you trying to kill us all?" Bruce didn't turn. He wanted to. He desperately did. He always wanted to just...stare at Natasha, but the two people were invading his space, and Bruce didn't want either of them there, no matter how much he kind of did, had kind of missed them, had felt a tearing in his heart every time he thought about her.

"I made breakfast," Tony said, looking over Bruce's shoulder at Natasha.

"You burned breakfast," Bruce said, "Maybe if you hadn't been ruining everything, you would have noticed." On Tony's disgusted noise, Bruce finally turned to look at Natasha where she was leaning on the door, the blanket Bruce had covered her with wrapped around her shoulders. He felt his lips curve up slightly at the sight, but then she pulled out her phone, and Bruce stepped forward to stop her.

He was worried. Honestly worried that they had found him and now they would call in S.H.I.E.L.D. and they would lock him in a cage. But Natasha shook her head and dialed the phone. She ignored whatever pleading Bruce put in his eyes as she obviously waited for someone to pick up the line. And then promptly ordered breakfast. Real breakfast from the diner in town.

"No town is too small to not have some place that delivers." Natasha stepped into the room, reaching out and taking Bruce's hand in hers as she stepped by him. Bruce let her pull him back into the center of the room. "Pay the delivery man when he gets here, Stark."

Natasha set down on the threadbare couch, pulling Bruce down with her. She folded her legs under her, but Bruce's thigh still touched hers, and he could feel the warmth of her even through their clothes and the blanket. Bruce was having a hand time not staring at her, even when Tony went back to the white board and starting making more changes, erasing some things he probably shouldn't be, but the one time his attention focused on Tony, he felt Natasha cool fingers touch his cheek and turn his face back to her.

"You're working on a cure?" she asked, but she kept the judgement out of her voice. And mostly off her face, though, Bruce told himself he could see it. Or maybe he was judging himself for falling back on old habits. Finding a cure had always been a focus, especially after Harlem and hurting Betty, but after the Avengers, he had lied to himself that he was fine with the Hulk.

"I need to find one, don't I? I can't keep tearing up whole cities," he said, reaching up and taking her hand, holding it between his, trying to warm it.

"Stark thinks otherwise. He thinks the two of you can come up with a way to control him." She smiled a little. "Control him better, anyway. Actual control,not just being along for the ride."

"How did you two track me down? I was careful, I only paid cash," he said, leaning back against the couch. He was staring again, but Natasha was staring back, her eyes searching his face for something.

"I injected nano trackers in every Avenger. It was standard protocol." Tony's voice was distracted, and he didn't turn away from the white board. Bruce sat up at those words, moving to stand, but Natasha's hands caught his and forced him to stay where he was. She shook her head.

"He's lying," she said, and Bruce had to smile at her tone that said that he had better be lying or she would possibly literally take it out of his skin. "You were breaking into the high school and using their lab equipment. Apparently, the police report said you left very nice notes apologizing for the damage."

"I'm really not sure you should have been running gamma radiation experiments in a high school," Tony said as he made another change and ignored the annoyed sound Bruce made in response.

"No one was in the school at the time," Bruce said in his defense.

"Answer the door, Stark," Natasha said, two seconds before someone knocked at the door. She didn't say anything else as Tony glared at them and headed toward the front door. "You've been spending too much time as the Hulk."

"He doesn't need to eat or sleep, or technically breathe," Bruce said with a slight shrug. His fingers picked idly at the fabric of the blanket. "I can go into the woods, no one bothers me out there. I don't have to worry about paying the heating bill."

"And yet apparently, you stay out there so long, you end up passing out in the snow from exhaustion. Hulk doesn't need to sleep, Banner does. Anyone can stumble on you out there, do whatever they wanted, " Natasha said lifting her eyebrows slightly.

"That how I ended up back here?"

"Stark's suit can come in handy for lifting dead weight," she said with a smile, rising to her feet and pulling Banner to his just as the smell of decent, well-cooked food filled the shack.

And the food was good. Granted, Bruce couldn't actually remember the last time he had eaten. It had been awhile since he had even been grocery shopping. They ate in silence, though, and Bruce tried to focus on the food in front of him and not staring at Natasha or getting annoyed at the changes that Tony had taken upon himself to make.

But eventually, the food was eaten, and there was nothing left to but ask, "So how did you make my math _better_?" and Bruce put just enough sarcasm on that word to make sure that Tony knew he didn't really believe that he had helped at all.

Tony grinned, though, and when he started talking, going over the equations and the math, his words becoming quicker, even Bruce had trouble following him. Natasha just laughed and shook her head, heading back into the living room to curl up on the couch. She took one of the many textbooks that Bruce had also lifted from the high school trash, some old biology book that was decades out of date, and she flipped through it.

Bruce wasn't sure if she was really reading it or just using it to tone out Tony's excitement about science.

And eventually, Bruce's own more subdued excitement. He swore he saw Natasha smile down at the book, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't the taxonomy of the animal kingdom that was so amusing.

They worked all day. Tony and Bruce at the whiteboard, Natasha working her way through the pile of old textbooks. Eventually, Natasha left, and Bruce stared at the room that seemed a little less bright for a moment before Tony got him back on track with more changes to the equations.

They were both making changes this time, making the equations better, making the eventual formulas even better, and when Natasha came back, she was carrying more books that weren't text books, food for dinner, and supplies for all three of them.

They ate in the living room this time, and Bruce lost track of time again. The sun had set hours ago, and he knew he should be tired, knew he was tired, but they were making real progress.

It was Natasha that finally made them stop.

"Science will be here in the morning, boys, I need sleep, and you two are in my room," she said, her arms crossed over her chest.

Tony frowned, but Bruce shook his head before saying, "You're taking the bed. The actual bed." He handed his dry erase marker to Tony before he moved over to Natasha. He picked up the blanket, folding it over his arm before handing it to her. "I insist."

"How about you both take the bed, and you leave me to get some work done?" Tony said that while making a shooing motion with his hands. "I'm sure neither one of you bites," he said, smirking as he turned back to the white board. Bruce opened his mouth to protest, but Natasha tugged him toward the hall.

"We've shared a bed before, Doctor," she said.

"That was different. An evil robot was trying to kill us," Bruce said, but he didn't protest, letting her pull him down the hall. Once in the bedroom, he took one of the worn t-shirts out of his dresser and passed it to her with an apologetic smile. She only laughed and gestured for him to turn around so they could both change.

It was easier to fall asleep with her next to him. Maybe he was still exhausted from spending so much time not sleeping, maybe the excitement of what he and Tony were doing was finally catching up to him. Or maybe it just felt right and perfect to be right there with her. Whatever it was, Bruce was asleep before his head had even really hit the pillow.

And when he woke up, he found his arms wrapped around Natasha with her head resting on his shoulder, and he didn't want to move. It was too warm, too perfect, the feeling of her right there, bare legs tangled around his, and that feeling did wonderful, amazing, breathless things to his body and mind, and for a moment, he gave in, turning his head to bury his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her.

Natasha made a quiet sound, it could have been a moan or a groan or even a growl, and Bruce froze, worried he had gone to far, but then she rolled, moving so that she was straddling his hips. Her hands braced against the bed on either side of his head, his erection pressed against the junction of her thighs, their bodies rubbing together with every breath.

Bruce lifted his hands, smoothing Natasha's hair back out of her face so he could look at her. Really look at her. She smiled, bright and quick, and then she kissed him. Not rushed and desperate like in Sokovia. It was gentle this time, but heated, warm and hot, with teeth catching and tugging. Natasha came down to rest against him as she moved her hands to his wrists, pushing his hands from her hair down her sides to her hips.

To the edge of the shirt. And the hem of her underwear. Two temptations, and the sound Bruce made in his throat was very desperate.

He slid his hands up her sides, the shirt riding up with his until he could move his fingers around to tease across her nipples. Her entire body shivered, and she rocked up, trying to press closer to him, deeper into the kiss, but eventually, Bruce had to break it, pulling away and letting his hands fall to her hips again. Though he didn't stop his fingers from moving down to the tops of her thighs, didn't stop them from slipping under her underwear, but he did stop them from slipping between her legs. No matter how inviting the little sounds she was making were.

"No," he said, once he finally had the air to really speak. Natasha just gave him a confused look, and Bruce smiled and kissed her gently but briefly. "Not yet. Not until..." he said, trailing off as he gestured at the door. Not until he and Tony had figured out how to make the Hulk not so much of a looming problem.

Natasha actually pouted, but it was playful, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth even as she stuck her lower lip out.

"You don't really want to stop...," she said, her hips rocking against his erection, and Bruce actually laughed a little at that. Only because it was either that or moan and give in.

"No, I don't really want to stop, but we...you deserve the best, and right now, I'm not that," he said, but his hands stayed at her thighs, fingers digging in slightly, and he couldn't help but kissing the corner of her mouth.

"That is an argument we will have later," she said with a smile and a laugh as she rolled off of him. She rose to her feet, grabbing a pair of his sweatpants and a different t-shirt. "I'm going to shower." There was an invitation in her words, and for a moment, Bruce let himself be tempted.

As it was, he just let himself enjoy the sight of her walking into the bathroom before he rose to his feet and pulled on clothes to head out and get back to work.

That became their ritual. All three of them, Bruce and Natasha sharing a bed every evening, kissing heatedly in the morning, hands and mouths teasing each other but neither one of them letting the other get off. It was frustrating and playful and perfect and almost too much.

It made Bruce work faster, though. Better, too. He kept up with Tony, and it had been...well, Bruce didn't know how long it had been. He had fallen into a routine. Wake up, play with Natasha and be played with in return, work until exhaustion hit, Natasha disappearing every day and coming back with food and books. Sometimes she'd head out back, out to the woods, and Bruce would hear gunshots. Target practice, he assumed, since Natasha never looked worse for the wear when she came back from the woods.

Eventually, his nights got longer until they were working all day and all night. Tony was relentless, and Bruce kept up with him. And Natasha never argued, never dragged him away. She simply kept up her routine, making sure Bruce and Tony both took care of personal needs because, well, she was not living in a tiny shack in the forest with two grown men who didn't bathe.

Tony said that she was free to leave.

Both Bruce and Natasha smacked his shoulders for that comment. Bruce was sure Natasha hit hard enough to bruise.

Eventually, working day and night...well, it paid off.

And all Tony and Bruce could do was stand and stare at the formulas and equations and the chemical mixture they had brewing over a bunsen burner in a beaker that Natasha had bought for them.

"You want to try it?" Tony hadn't taken his eyes off the chemical experiment. Bruce wanted to argue, to say that it was too easy, a month (or more? Bruce really didn't know) of working on something was never this easy.

"No." Bruce took a deep breath before shaking his head. "Yes."

So they took the beaker off the burner, waited for it to cool down, and it was Tony that filled a syringe with the chemical. Bruce only hesitated for a moment before injecting it into his arm.

They headed out into the woods, Bruce glancing back at the shack, tempted to go wake Natasha up, but if this failed, if he failed, he did not want to see the disappointment on her face. Once they were far enough away that a rampaging Hulk would not actually be in danger of tearing anything apart, they stop and Tony held his arm up, calling one of his gauntlets to him.

Bruce held up a hand before Tony could fire. "If this doesn't work, tell Natasha..." he said, but he trailed off with a shrug. He didn't really know what he wanted to say to her. Well, he did, but he was also sure it should come from him and not Tony Stark.

Tony laughed. "If this doesn't work, I am far more likely to end up smeared across the Canadian wilderness. So tell Pepper...." He shrugged the same as Bruce. And then he fired.

And Bruce changed.

But Tony didn't end up a bloody smear on the ground.

For the first time that Bruce could remember, the Hulk was calm. The anger was still there, the anger was always there, but even being forced to change, the Hulk did not rampage. Bruce was in charge, and he kept the anger under control. Completely.

And once he reverted back to his normal self, Bruce could only smile, and he took off at a run, barefoot through the snow, back towards the shack.

Natasha was in bed when he burst into the bedroom. He crawled onto the bed, hands braced on either side of her hips as the jostling of the bed woke her up. She blinked her eyes at him, narrowing them in confusion, but Bruce just leaned in to kiss her.

"Bruce?" she asked, her voice deep and lazy from sleep, but she was smiling as she kissed him again.

"It worked. We're done. It worked," he couldn't keep the smile out of his voice or off his face as he peeled the blanket off of her.

"How do you know?" Natasha sat up in the bed, the movement allowing her to lean a little closer to Bruce.

"We tested it," Bruce said, shrugging. He made it sound like they had just run another, average experiment, that no one's life at been at stake, but Natasha knew otherwise. She always knew things like that, and Bruce could tell by the way her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head.

"Right. Stark survived?" Obviously. She didn't need to ask that question, and Bruce didn't need to answer it. But he still nodded his head. "We'll talk about you not waking me up for the test later," she said, and she smiled then, another quick and bright one as she leaned in, kissing him.


End file.
